Environment

28,600 people affected after tornado hits Chinese city

SHENYANG, July 6 (Xinhua) -- More than 28,600 people were affected after a strong tornado hit a city in northeast China's Liaoning Province on Wednesday, causing an economic loss of over 1 billion yuan (145 million U.S. dollars), the local government announced on Saturday.

The tornado, packing winds up to 23 meters per second, struck the city of Kaiyuan around 5:15 p.m Wednesday. It touched down at the Jingouzi Township, rampaged through an industrial park and churned south. It lasted around 15 minutes.

Over 400 people injured by East Siberia floods

TULUN /Irkutsk Region/, July 6. /TASS/: More than 400 people have been taken to hospitals following heavy floods in East Siberia’s Irkutsk Region, Russia’s Deputy Minister for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief Pavel Baryshev said at a meeting of the commission on the issue of floods in the Irkutsk Region.

As of the middle of Friday, 22 people were reported dead, 15 people missing and over 330 hospitalized as a result of floods in the Irkutsk Region.

Latest Southern California quake causes damage, injuries

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A quake with a magnitude as large as 7.1 jolted much of California, cracked buildings, set fires, broke roads and caused several injuries, authorities and residents said.

The quake — preceded by Thursday’s 6.4-magnitude temblor in the Mojave Desert — was the largest Southern California temblor in at least 20 years and was followed by a series of large and small aftershocks.

India: Jajmau road from Nai Chungi to Galla Godam Turn dreads

Kanpur: Jajmau is a fast growing town both in terms of population and business. It is still famed as leather hub, though much of its work has shifted to Unnao side and other areas. But Jajmau is still synonymous with leather.The tanneries were so big as the work used to be done inside its precincts.

With passing of days the shops were spread particularly from Nai Chungi to the road turning towards Galla Godam. If we look at simply the length of the road, it is neiher good nor wide enough. On both the sides of the road there remains usual traffic jam with visible encroachments.

More than 110,000 hectares of forests on fire in Krasnoyarsk Region

KRASNOYARSK, July 4. /TASS/: The area of the burning taiga in the Krasnoyarsk Region has reached 112,000 hectares on Thursday, the regional forest fire center reported.

"According to the information collected, at 12:00 (8:00 Moscow time) on July 4, 2019, 149 forest fires were active on the territory of the region on a total area of 112,459 hectares <...>. There is no threat to communities," the report says.

Tornado in northeast China kills 6 people, injures 190

BEIJING (AP) — A tornado blew through a city in northeast China, damaging factories and buildings, killing six people and injuring another 190, state media reported Thursday.

The tornado hit Kaiyuan, a county-level city in Liaoning province, late Wednesday afternoon, local authorities said in a brief online statement. Footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed a stretch of collapsed low-rise buildings where firefighters were working through the debris. Glass windows in homes and cars were blown out.

Truck taken off service as bird sets up nest in engine

BINGOL, 3 July 2019; AA: A construction truck working for building a road in the eastern Turkish province of Bingol was taken off service after a bird set up a nest in the engine of the vehicle.

Officials of the construction company decided that the truck would not be used in the ongoing construction of the road on the Bingol-Erzurum highway after they were informed that a bird built a nest inside the truck.

June was Europe's hottest ever

3 July 2019; DW: Last month was the hottest June ever recorded, the European Union's satellite agency said Tuesday.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) program revealed the continent's average temperature for the month was 2 degrees Celsius hotter than normal.

"Although this was exceptional, we are likely to see more of these events in the future due to climate change," C3S head Jean-Noel Thepaut said.

Austrian parliament votes to ban glyphosate weedkiller

3 July 2019; DW: Lawmakers in Austria's lower house of parliament voted to ban all uses of controversial herbicide glyphosate on Tuesday, as the substance faces a slew of lawsuits in the US for potentially causing cancer.

"The scientific evidence of the plant poison's carcinogenic effect is increasing," the assembly's top social democrat, Pamela Rendi-Wagner, said in a statement.

"It is our responsibility to ban this poison from our environment," she added.

Alert level increased at world’s largest volcano in Hawaii

HONOLULU (AP) — Federal officials raised the alert level Tuesday for the world’s largest active volcano, Hawaii’s Mauna Loa, which last erupted in 1984.

The U.S. Geological Survey changed the level from “normal” to “advisory” following a steady increase in earthquakes and ground swelling that began in March.

An eruption is not imminent, but scientists are closely monitoring Mauna Loa because of its reputation for “evolving very quickly” and sending lava far and wide, USGS research geophysicist Ingrid Johanson told The Associated Press in a phone interview last month.

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